When I was young there was a show on TV called Horrible Histories. I was about 9 when it was on in 2001 and probably in year 4. It was based on the Terry Deary book series of the same name which is published by scholastic. The television series ran for 26 episodes each roughly 25 minutes long. It featured the two main characters Mo and Stitch who travelled back to a different time each episode.
In 2009 another Horrible Histories TV show began airing. This one has more episodes than its predecessor and unlike its predecessor is not animated.
The Terry Deary books are designed to engage children in history by concentrating on the unusual, gory, or unpleasant aspects of history. There are more than 60 titles in the book series which is sold in more than 30 different languages.
I would encourage students to read these books and to check out the horrible histories website as a supplementary activity to support a topic that we would be looking at in class. I would even potentially show one of the episodes of the show to the class if it was relevant to what we were learning.
The Horrible History series covers all the areas of history from ancient times to modern times. Some titles in the series include:
· Ruthless Romans
· Terrifying Tudors
· Awful Egyptians
· Incredible Incas
· Angry Aztecs
· Villainous Victorians
· Barmy British Empire
· Perilous Pirates
· Frightful First world war
I would love to have these books in my classroom or in the school library for the students to read. I would recommend them for students at VELS level 3 so in grades 3 and 4 in particular. The books could also be read by students at VELS level 4 and by students in grade 2 if they are advanced enough in reading.